The semi-official Iranian news agency FNA has just published this news item: "Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama." But of course they do! Here's their complete text:

Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama

TEHRAN (FNA)- According to the results of a Gallup poll released Monday, the overwhelming majority of rural white Americans said they would rather vote for Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than US President Barack Obama.

"I like him better," said West Virginia resident Dale Swiderski, who, along with 77 percent of rural Caucasian voters, confirmed he would much rather go to a baseball game or have a drink with Ahmadinejad than spend time with Obama.

"He takes national defense seriously, and he'd never let some gay protesters tell him how to run his country like Obama does."

According to the same Gallup poll, 60 percent of rural whites said they at least respected that Ahmadinejad doesn't try to hide the fact that he's Muslim.

Needless to say, the news are not real. Rural whites don't prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama (or so I hope!) and there was no Gallup poll.

The FNA copied the news verbatim from an article published in The Onion. Of course, every news article published by The Onion is fake.

It's not the first time that someone believed the fake news of The Onion, but this certainly marks a new low on Iranian news reporting.

While the FNA (Fars News Agency) says they are "Iran's leading independent news agency", Wikipedia cites the CNN and Reuters describing it as a "semi-official news agency with ties to the government" while "the Wall Street Journal has stated the agency is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard Corps."

I wish the The Onion itself reported on this, causing a timespace loop that could probably destroy the Universe. [FP, FNA and The Onion—Thanks Leah Gould!]